The Nightmare Crown

Chapter 10: The Cipher Crystal

"Some people were mining under our lab?" Antonio said.

"Yes, yes they were." Hiro said. "And they turned your sonic amplifier technology into a gun." he revealed the sonic amplifier gun.

"This is perfect." Sharon said. "I love it!"

"What were the people mining under our lab?" Antonio asked. "They were mining a gem called crystalix." Hiro said. Antonio & Sharon stared at each other. "Do you think the crystalix and the sonic amplifier technology is connected?" Wasabi asked. "It could be." Antonio said. He thought for a bit, then grinned. "Of course." he said.

He went up to a bookshelf in the lab, and got a book from it. It read 'Powerful Gems and/or Crystals for Dummies'. He opened it. "Here it is: Crystalix. It's a special mineral, based on the crystal balls you see in fortune teller booths at funfairs. It was very popular with fortune tellers all around the world." he said.

The team stared. "You don't honestly think those fortune tellers have glass crystal balls, do you?" Antonio said. "OK... what about the sonic amplifier?" GoGo said. "What happens if you expose a crystalix crystal to the sonic frequency from the amplifier?"

Antonio gasped. "That's it!" "What's it, Antonio?" Callaghan asked. "If you expose crystalix to a sonic frequency, you can transmute it into futurite!"

"Futurite?" the team and Callaghan said. "Yes." Antonio said, showing them the page with the futurite crystal - which looked like an ordinary crystalix gem, but more darker in colour, and slightly smaller. "It's a very rare gemstone, it's even rarer than platinum. But it is incredibly powerful." he said. "Only one of these gems was ever found!"

"Was it part of the Crown of Nightmares?" Fred asked. "Yes." Sharon said. "It's the crystal that goes into the centre. The crown's centre has a shape shaped like a strange interdimensional creature called Bill Cipher. He caused a strange event called 'Weirdmageddon' in that Gravity Falls place a while back." "That sounds so freaky." Wasabi said. "But not as freaky as 6 fingers on your hands, or 6 toes on your feet." he added.

"What about the crystal?" Hiro asked. "Well," Antonio said, "Futurite is very powerful. If you gaze into it, the future you could see will happen, be it good or bad!" The team shuddered at the thought of what [possible] horrid futures could happen. "In the wrong hands, a gem like that could be extremely dangerous." Honey said. "That's right." Hiro said. "Could Langstrom Krei possibly make his own futurite crystal?" Fred asked.

Antonio and Sharon stared. "Well," Antonio said, "He could, but it'd be slightly imperfect." Sharon nodded. "If you were to counter it's power, you'd need..." she paused impressively. "The Cipher Crystal!"

"The Cipher Crystal?" Hiro said. "Yes." Sharon said. "That's what we called the original futurite crystal." "We named the original futurite crystal after him after the Weirdmageddon incident." Antonio said. "Where is the crystal?" Wasabi said.

"We don't know," Antonio said, "but we remember that we worked with 2 people on it: a man and a woman. They both had the same last name: Hamada." "Were they the same people that Gregor said who worked with Langstrom Krei on the crown?" Fred asked.

"Yes." Antonio said. "They worked in a lab in somewhere called Kikiwaka Island, an island not too far to the east from Akuma Island." "That sounds familiar." Wasabi said. "It sounds like the name of an old summer camp that my cousin Emma Ross once worked at." Honey Lemon said.

"Here are the coordinates to the island." Sharon said, giving Hiro a paper with the coordinates to Kikiwaka Island on it. "I'd give myself 2 extra toes on my feet if the Cipher Crystal is there." Antonio said. "Thanks." Hiro said to the scientist couple. "Let us know if there's anything else about where the crown could possibly be." "We will." Antonio said. "Thanks again for returning our technology!" Sharon said as the team left.

Once outside the lab, the team discussed what to do next. "First thing tomorrow, we check Kikiwaka Island out." Hiro said to his friends and Callaghan.

As Big Hero 6 were discussing what to do about Kikiwaka Island, Callaghan slipped away to talk to a stranger in a trench coat. "How's it going?" he whispered to Callaghan. "It's going fine, Langstrom." Callaghan said. "Soon, you will have everything you wanted, just like it was before my brother's portal experiment ruined your life." the disguised Langstrom said.

"OK." Callaghan said. "Just keep the secret safe, and you should be fine." Langstrom said, before slipping away. Callaghan went back to Big Hero 6, and they headed back to Fred's mansion.

Later that night at his mansion, Fred got ready to turn in for the night. He threw off his clothing, save his underwear, so he could change it the next morning. As he sat on his bed, he thought about Antonio, and his 6-toed feet. He looked at his own feet, and wriggled his toes. "I bet I'd look amazing with 6 toes on my feet. Or with a tail sticking out of my butt. Or with a long neck, and 3 eyes, and 8 arms, and maybe also with wings and-"

And just like that, he was out like a light, lying on his bed, dreaming of gaining all the things he thought he'd be amazingly cool-looking with.

Robert Callaghan sighed, as he lay on his bed back in the spare room. He was thinking about his daughter, Abigail. He remembered when he hugged her just before she entered the pod before she got trapped in the portal.

"Don't worry, Abigail." He said to himself. "Whatever happens, we'll soon be together again, just like we used to."

"I can't believe he saved me." Hiro said, back at the Lucky Cat Cafe. He was thinking about when Callaghan saved him at the battle with Super Tiger 2.0.

"Maybe Callaghan isn't so bad after all." Baymax said. "He did just want his daughter back from the portal."

"Yes." Hiro said quietly. "But I still can't trust him... at least not yet."

"Maybe he knows more about the crown than anyone else." Baymax said. "It's only a matter of time, till all is revealed."

"Indeed." Hiro said, staring out of the window. "And that's what worries me..."